The week before Jurassic Worldhit theaters, I was able to get mega-producer Frank Marshall on the phone to talk not only about the new Jurassic Park sequel/reboot, but about a variety of other topics as well.

During the conversation we discussed the idea of weaponized dinosaurs, how he came to produce this movie (which has something to do with Star Wars), the cynical online fanboy reaction throughout the development, the Amblin feel of the movie, how the project evolved from earlier drafts, why the previous screenwriters RickJaffa and Amanda Silver are still credited on the film after Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connelly did a page one rewrite, the battle of practical vs. cg effects, planning for further sequels, Spielberg’s idea for trained raptors, how Jimmy Buffet ended up in the movie, if Universal Studios will be making a Jurassic World ride for their parks.

I ask him about some of the projects he has on his plate, which include new Bourne movies, a big-screen adaptation of Assassin’s Creed, and Indiana Jones 5. I also ask about the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future, a film for which Marshall acted as producer and second unit director. (I got some details on that latter gig.) All this and more is in my Frank Marshall interview, which you can read after the jump.

Frank Marshall Interview

Peter Sciretta: Hey, Frank. How’s it going?

Frank Marshall: Good, thanks, how are you?

I’m doing good. I assume you’re on set.

No, I’m on my way to the studio. I go back up to Vancouver on Wednesday.

Well, before I get to Jurassic World, I wanted to ask you a couple quick questions about what’s going on with your other projects.

Go for it.

There’s a new Jason Bourne movie with Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass. How does Jeremy Renner’s character fit into that?

They’re still two different projects, two different films.

And the Assassin’s Creed movie, is that happening?

Yeah, that’s happening in September.

Indiana Jones 5. Is Harrison Ford going to be involved or is Chris Pratt taking over?

No, there’ve been no discussions on that so…

So that’s just like Internet rumors?

Yeah. I mean, we’ve had no discussions on Indy 5 to date.

Okay, let’s get to Jurassic World.

And the movie’s been in development in different incarnations since around 2001. It seems like one returning factor throughout all versions is the idea of using dinosaurs as weapons. Was that Steven’s idea?

You know, beyond what you’ve seen on the screen, I haven’t been involved in the project till a couple years ago. So I don’t know the incarnations of it. I do know that they were the basic idea of the theme park is open and they were gonna use they trained raptors, which were Steven’s ideas.

That makes sense. I forgot that you came on board the project because Kathleen was going to Star Wars, is that what happened?

When Kathy took the job at Lucasfilm she passed [Jurassic World] on to me. Obviously because I have worked with Steven and it’s kind of an Amblin project. It made sense that I just step in and take over the producer chores. So that was a couple years ago.

How do the two of you go home and not talk about all these movies you’re both doing?

(laughs) Well we have two teenage daughters who take up a lot of our attention.